Five Peace Pilgrims guilty on all counts

Sentencing of all six Peace Pilgrims, including Mr Christie, has been set down for December 4. They have been bailed to appear from their respective cities of residence, Cairns and Brisbane.

In relation to the five whose trial concluded today, the Crown has called for imprisonment as the only appropriate sentence in the circumstances, although Michael McHugh SC pointed out that imprisonment can take different forms, such as suspended sentences with various conditions.

However, for the older offenders Margaret Pestorious and Jim Dowling, given their long history of similar offending, Mr McHugh argued for actual time to be served, most particularly for Mr Dowling who, he said, “to use a colloquialism, is on the street and will continue to offend”.